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Turnovers

Time of Poss.

Mount Union ended a
three-year drought in Salem, defeating St. Thomas 28-10 for the
national title. Photo by Dan Poel, d3photography.com

By Ryan Tipps
D3sports.com

SALEM -- This class of Mount Union seniors got
themselves one kind of first and avoided another kind.

With the specter of being the only Purple Raiders football team
in two decades to go four years without a national championship,
the senior-laden squad battled its way to the Walnut and Bronze
with a 28-10 win over St. Thomas.

Near the end of the fourth quarter, the mood of the stadium
changed and the team knew – they knew they finally achieved
that elusive goal. After St. Thomas’ final drive,
All-American defensive back Nick Driskill stood on the 40-yard
line, facing the Mount fans, and pointed to the sky.

Mount Union’s Stagg Bowl XL performance brought them all
the way to the top.

“It’s very heartwarming” to be in this
position, coach Larry Kehres said to a crowd of fans and players as
the team accepted the championship trophy.

The national title was the 11th for the Purple Raiders in 16
trips to Salem.

It was also the first time in eight years that the Division III
national championship didn’t feature Mount Union against
UW-Whitewater. The Purple Raiders may not have had the chance to
avenge their three straight losses against the Warhawks, but that
in no way diminished the fulfillment that this team feels.

The spark was lit in the first drive, when Mount Union traveled
82 yards down the field, helped by a 41-yard reception by
All-America wideout Junior Collins and capped by a 1-yard run by
Jake Simon. But the Purple Raiders’ offensive momentum
stalled for a large chunk of the game – though the scoreboard
wasn't stagnant.

Late in the first quarter, defensive lineman-turned-linebacker
Charles Dieuseul blocked a punt, picked up the loose ball and found
the end zone, lifting Mount Union to a 14-0 lead from which it
would never need to look back. It marked the third playoff
game in a row in which a blocked punt led to a Mount Union
touchdown.

“I was going to score regardless, if I had to drag 20
people in there, I was going to get into the end zone,”
Dieuseul said.

He said that practicing punt blocking was part of the
team’s routine, and Kehres noted that he’s never
hesitated from using his best players on the field in that aspect
of the game.

“We practice special teams daily, more minutes probably
than a lot of other teams. And we get the dividend of that,”
Kehres said. “We’re not afraid to take
risks.”

Though Mount Union owned the first quarter, in many ways, St.
Thomas commanded the second and third quarters, but often
couldn’t convert their spurts of momentum into points. A
pivotal point in the game was in the middle of the third, when a
flubbed Mount Union punt was recovered by the Tommies. But the
Purple Raiders held the Tommies and forced them into kicking a
38-yard field goal. That closed the gap on the scoreboard to four
points, injecting new drama into Salem Stadium.

Mount Union responded in the way that Mount Union often does,
with forceful conviction. Twice then, the team strung together
drives of more than 80 yards and further solidified their lead and
the security of a victory.

“We had some flashes of excellence that showed up at times
and that pulled us through,” Kehres said. “Our defense
was consistent throughout.” (continues below)

“When they got us on our heels,” Tommies coach Glenn
Caruso said, “they were able to bring pressure and get home.
There were times when we had a decent answer to it, and we moved
the ball a little bit. But there were more times that we did not
have a good enough answer to it.”

Kehres lauded St. Thomas’ defense and special teams, along
with some of the twists they threw in.

“It was a tough game,” Kehres said. “We had
our up moments and our down moments. The pressure defense from St.
Thomas does that.”

Before Friday night, Mount averaged 62 points a game over the
first four playoff tilts. Instead on Friday, they were held to less
than half that. The Purple Raiders, which throughout the season
averaged 557.71 yards per game, was held to 344 yards.

In their toughest moments, sophomore quarterback Kevin Burke
said he and his teammates “kind of buckled down, looked at
where they were, and kind of realized this is it.”

“That hits you hard, and you have to step up at that
point,” said Burke, who with 222 passing yards was named the
Stagg Bowl’s Most Outstanding Player. “We’re not
a perfect team by any means, but we got the job done.”

Chris Denton, an All-America wide receiver for Mount, said he
and his teammates went in with the intent of always setting its own
pace. Opponents “like to change the game on us,”
he said. Mount’s reply is not letting them do so.

Denton hauled in his team’s third-quarter touchdown, a
17-yard strike that might very well have swung the momentum back to
Mount after several minutes of pressure from the Tommies. It was
fourth down and five yards to go, and Mount could have settled for
a field goal. Instead, the Purple Raiders showed what being a
championship team is all about.

Experience has helped make this team so good. Only one starter
on the offense isn’t a senior, and seven starting defenders
are seniors. Collins had some of the game’s biggest
receptions and notched his sixth-straight 100-yard game. Running
back Jake Simon had 87 yards and two touchdowns. The front five
opened some big holes. Strong safety Nick Driskill and cornerback
Isaiah Scott made plays.

Because of what these players meant to him, the effort to bring
home a title for the first time since 2008 had a renewed sense of
urgency for Kehres.

He said while it would have been easy for this senior class to
get down on itself or angry, this team showed great resolve amid
its past three season-ending losses.

“It was a difficult three years, to see the seniors
experience loss in the final game I felt for them,” Kehres
said. But “this group inspired me. … They were such a
dedicated group.”

What do the seniors have to say about it?

Dieuseul answered: “It’s the greatest feeling in the
world. We worked all summer long … and all the work we did
in offseason ball at 5 o’clock in the morning, 6 a.m.
lifting, practices in the snow, it paid off tonight.”

Burke, the only non-senior among the offensive starters, will
help carry the momentum and drive into next year. The quarterback
who is as dangerous on his feet as he is with his arm offered his
secret: